Jeffrey Wasserstrom, a U.C. Irvine China specialist and urban historian, draws on material from his book China's Brave New World – And Other Tales for Global Times (Indiana University Press, 2007) to reflect on the dramatic way that Chinese cities have changed over the past two decades.

Since winning the Olympic bid in 2001, Beijing has invested heavily in green construction materials and sustainable energy for the Olympic Village, and made momentous efforts to clean the city's notoriously dirty air and water.